president obama called that a nonstarter. so what happens if we do actually raise taxes a little bit? rates will be much lower than what americanss paid a generation ago. in 1980 the wealthiest americans paid 70% of their income to uncle sam. tax reform under reagan reduced that to 50% in 1981. closer to current levels in 1986. today president obama wants to let the bush era tax cuts expire for the wealthy americans only kicking up their marginal federal tax rate from a 35% bracket to 39.6%. we are talking about a 4.6% uptick for households making more than $250,000 a year only on every dollar they make above $250,000. that's why it's a marginal tax rake, only on the money you make on the margin. stephen moore is here from the wall street journal and he's ready to jump out of his skin after i said that. he specializes in telling me why i'm wrong. and our other guest, david johnston wrote "the fine print." stephen, you are our resident anti-tax crusader. i totally agree every penny counts when it comes to your own money. when